The field of the invention is that of avionics equipment.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates more particularly to aircraft on-board devices which provide a communication interface with an avionics network designed to serve as a medium for the aircraft's internal communications, for example a communication interface for an ARINC 664 avionics network (particularly an AFDX or Aviation Full Duplex network), or else an interface of the CAN Bus, USB or HDLC type.
2. Description of Related Art
Avionics systems today include increasingly intelligent remote devices of the sensor or actuator type. In particular, these are critical flight control devices, for example electric linear actuators which are not only controlled by a central controller but are also capable of generating reports directed to the central controller.
Avionics equipment thus generally fills a critical function in the sense that the provision of undetected erroneous information can have catastrophic results for the safety of the aircraft and of its passengers. Criticality is defined within the application field of the invention in particular by the following aeronautical reference documents: CS25.1309/ARP-4754/DO-254/DO-178B.
Today it is normal practice to develop a specific electronic component of the ASIC (or FPGA, PLD) type to fulfill the function of an AFDX interface for avionics equipment, this component being linked to a processor which carries out the other functions—particularly the critical functions—of the equipment. This solution, however, proves to be complex and costly to the extent that the ASIC component must be developed with the aim of ensuring a good level of design assurance (level A and B of specification DO-254).